How to Write a Movie in 21 Days (Paperback)

by Viki King (Author) "So you want to write a movie?..." (more)
Key Phrases: random draft, inner projector, rewrite draft, Inner Movie Axiom, The Inner Movie Method, James Bond (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
No book can find your ideas for you, but this one provides a great service in helping you discover and develop a story, and to come up with the completed script. King helps you learn to think cinematically, in the language of the movies, and to keep asking the essential questions as they work: What's the story? Who is the story about? Do you care about the characters? Does anyone? King also tries to help you survive not just the structural pitfalls that can derail a script, but also the mental or emotional whirlpools that can prevent any artist from finishing a project.

Review
"Viki King manages to demystify the art and science of screenwriting. Speaking from the heart and later, spotlighting concepts from the head, Viki King presents tactics that place writing in the unstressed context of nonthreatening time management. The idea of eight, nine and ten minute sessions is wonderfully simple, promisingly adaptive, and joyfully do-able." -- Maisha Hazzard, Ohio University

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Harper Paperbacks (September 15, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062730665
• ISBN-13: 978-0062730664
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #6,900 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

275 of 279 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You will NOT write a movie in 21 days..., January 28, 2000

By	Jeff (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

...at least not one that's actually sellable, or that has enough depth and craftsmanship to survive in the real-world marketplace. To think otherwise is to be laughably naive. Having said that, I strongly recommend this book!

Why the discrepancy? Simple. I've been writing for years, off and on. I've read dozens of screenwriting books, and taken a few of the big screenwriting courses. I've started writing about 50 screenplays, and completed about 3 of them.

One of the troubles I had (sound familiar?), is that I would begin writing, get about 30 or 40 pages into it, and then stop. Either I went off-course, I began to hate my concept or characters, thought my writing was atrocious, or came up with "a better idea." The result? Dozens of half-completed screenplays.

A writer writes. And writing is re-writing. You'll never fully appreciate these clichés until you ACTUALLY SIT DOWN AND WRITE! And don't stop!

The script I wrote when I actually APPLIED this book (about 2 years after I bought it) was written in about 48 days. Hmmph! But you know what? It was WRITTEN. It was complete. It was my first, fully-completed screenplay. And it was actually pretty darn good.

Truth be told, when you finish writing the script Viki King helps you get out on paper, it will likely be only a FIRST DRAFT. Chances are, there'll be a lot more work to do. Re-writing. Making it more organic. Adding depth and breadth to your characters. Expanding your subplots and building elements necessary to your story that Viki's book overlooks (things experience will teach you). But if you've never written a screenplay before (or never completed one you like), this book will talk you through it. And it will give you the basic tools needed to actually complete it. Because before you can re-write, hone, and perfect... you need to get it on paper in the first place!

Make no mistake about it. If you buy into the idea that you'll get this book and have a sellable screenplay a month later, you'll be disappointed. You're not a writer. You're a get-rich-quick wishful thinker. Writing screenplays is a tough business, let alone a difficult process. It just doesn't happen overnight.

The power and beauty of this book is its ability (if you actually FOLLOW it) to help you get through the battle that happens inside, when you sit down to write. It will get your script on paper. It will make you a writer. The quality of your writing gets better with experience. Applying the principles of this book will give you that experience.

Also: Others have accused this book of being "spiritual". It's not. It's motivational, it's inspirational, it's conversational. Just what a first-time or would-be writer needs to overcome his battle with himself.

Some people talk. Other people act. Those who act will get value out of this book.

As I write this review, the script I wrote (in, umm, 48 days) is currently in post-production. And the script I'm working on now is even better.

It's a process. And this is a wonderful first step. A wonderful tool to help you through the self-imposed barriers to succeeding at this craft.

61 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Glad I Finally Bought It, October 4, 2000

By	Robert Graves (Thompson Station, TN USA) - See all my reviews

I'll admit, I put off buying this book for some time. C'mon. A movie in 21 days? I'm not into "get-rich" quick scams. So I bought other books, and more books, and finally this one. I love it. I honestly don't think anyone will write a movie in 21 days by using this book and in my opinion the title should be changed. But what I love most about this book is this - *it gets you writing*.

I was sitting there with about a dozen good ideas but not really doing anything with them. Sure, I'd sit down and peck out my thoughts on one of them every day - procrastinating in the guise of progress - and then Viki King's book arrived in the mail. Through her writing I learned how to pick the best idea from my pool of several, how to develop it, and how to write it in the most effective way. Her main point is that we write from our hearts and then rewrite from our heads. She clearly instructs the writer how to accomplish this seemingly intangible task.

The book is also filled with great tidbits on various aspects of the writing life... paying the bills until you sell a script, dealing with loved ones, etc.

And lastly, as I mentioned earlier, this book gets you into gear and *writing*. She provides several easy and productive "assignments" that move you in the direction of completing your script. I hope this was helpful!

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent guide for any starting writer, March 20, 2002

By	Donald E. Strong "Desired FX" (Detroit, MI USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As a writer, my biggest problem is slowing down to fix what I'm writing before I've finished writing it. It's very easy for me to get so caught up in making something sound perfect that I never get around to finishing the piece--just write it off as another imperfect work-in-progress and go on to something else.

King's approach gets you writing, writing, writing, writing, writing. You don't even think about editing until the whole story has been written down--even if it's written down in a thoroughly unreadable form. Her reasoning? It's easier to make something good from something mediocre (or even bad) than it is to make something good from nothing.

I've written a few screenplays (none sold yet, doggone it), but only one using exactly the plan outlined in this book. I found that, while her method works and works very well, just going through it once showed me where the span of my writing approach needed her kind of support and where it stood firmly on my own abilities.

I continue to use her 8-minute exercises because they are wonderful for getting you writing while preventing you from thinking about writing: if you only have 8 minutes to cover a topic, you'd better get those words onto paper as fast as you can. 8 minutes is the perfect limit because it's enough to get a substantial amount written--but only if you don't spend your time diddling with the words. Longer than 8 minutes and an old diddler like me will be tempted to diddle.

I don't use her "write 20 pages in 2 hours" approach, but I do write each scene in a block from beginning to end without stopping, for as many pages as that first visceral "heart draft" of the scene needs to be.

It's been a long time since I've read this book--though I do give it a once-over before I start a project--and many things she teaches in it have stuck with me as personal approaches to writing. It's a small book, but that's only because she doesn't waste time getting to her point.

A very rich find--it should serve every screenwriter well.